New Years – 2025 – Day 1 – Thursday, January 2, 2025
Day 1- Since it was much cheaper, we left Blooming at 4:45pm
with a 1-hour flight to Chicago and then it was to be 1 hour to make our
connecting flight.
A was a good idea, however American Airlines did not
cooperate as the flight we were to take came from Chicago and it was 1 hour
late!
The pilot attempted to make up the time; however, we landed
as the other flight took off.
We went to customer service and they put us on a 6:30am next
morning light to Miami, gave us $24.00 worth of food vouchers at the airport
and a “free”night at a Whyman Hotel close to the airport.
After eating dinner, we went to pick up our hotel shuttle
and it was 1 hour before we were able to get one.
We finally made it to the hotel and had about 4 hours of
sleep before getting up and taking the 4:30am shuttle to the airport.
The plane left on time and we were in Miami at about
11:30am.
Not wanting to mess with shuttles again, we took an Uber to
the hotel. There after moving us twice because of problems in the room,
we finally were able to get our room for the next couple of days.
We woke up in time to go to lunch at a Cuban Café we have
been to before and it was close to the hotel.
By this time, it was too late to go to the beach so we took
3 hours driving about the cruise port, Miami Beach & Surfside before going
to Weston, Fl to meet long-time friends Renee and Eric Degelau.
We met them a long time ago when Eric was the #1 Corvette
salesman in Wisconsin and a sponsor of our Adventures events. Great, fun
couple and we have seen them each year when we have come down for a cruise for
quite some time. They live in the Fort Myers so it was a great for them
to come, once again all the way across Floria to see us.
Another couple from here, Pam and Jeff Beier, usually join
them; however, they are still in Ohio as Pam had knee surgery and of course we
miss them.
On Saturday and we woke up late and realized while the sky
was clear and about 70, the wind was terrible but we went ahead and took our
towels and headed out.
We drove over to Surfside and our favorite beach Hallover;
however, it was just too windy to be out on the beach.
So, we drove to downtown Surfside to eat lunch; however, all
the good sidewalk restaurants were closed because of Rosh Hashanah, a Jewish holiday
festival that marks the beginning of the Jewish calendar.
Our next choice was a Russian restaurant farther north; but,
the owners were Russian-Jews and it was also closed. We final ate lunch
at a Peruvian Restaurant and then headed back to our hotel so pack and get
ready for dinner.
After lunch we drove the length of Surfside and Miami Beach
- 181 blocks. We think at least 25 years ago, we took Jackie, Jason, Jeff
and their spouses on a cruise. This was in the early days of the
internet and the pictures of the El San Juan Hotel, right in the middle of
Miami Beach looked wonderful. While the outside and the lobby were just
fine, the rooms were not. I think we all slept with socks on!!
We also walked on the beach and Barb had a Pelican poop
right on her head!! One of those
unforgettable experiences before the cruise.
But, for one day and night, we sure did have a great memory
to talk about.
Dinner tonight was in Little Havana at a restaurant called
La Camaronera Seafood which we have been to before and it has wonderful fresh
fish. We had grilled whole Yellow Fin Red
Snapper and it probably was the best fish we have every had. We also had fried Plantains to go with
it. As you can see by the photo, the Snapper
was on ice when we got there.
This is probably the first time ever that we have not been
to the beach in Miami or Fort Lauderdale before a cruise so we will start the
cruise without a tan and hopefully get one quickly!!
Tomorrow, we check out and board the MSC Seaview and we are
really looking forward to it.
Night for now.
